HOUSE OF COMMONS (SERVICES) (Hansard, 9 April 1968)

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I take it that the hon. Member knows that this Motion has been introduced under Standing Order No. 13?

§ Mr. Steel
Yes, Mr. Speaker.

§ Mr. Speaker
I want to help the hon. Member. He may make a speech in opposition to the Motion, but it must be a speech under the Ten-Minute Rule. It must be a brief speech.

§ Mr. Steel
I do not propose to divide the House on the Motion, but I should like to say a few words about it. The House does not have enough opportunity to debate the way in which we run the House and the facilities that are provided for hon. Members to conduct their business. Many hon. Members will be in sympathy with me in seeking this limited opportunity, when we are appointing a new Chairman—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. The hon. Member must oppose the Motion. He cannot talk about Select Committees in general. The Motion proposes to substitute one name for another. The hon. Member must now give reasons why he is opposed to the Motion.

§ Mr. Steel
In that case I am required to oppose the Motion on the ground that I wish the status quo to be maintained. I am not in favour of a new Chairman of the Select Committee on Services. My reason for this is that the right hon. Member for Coventry, East (Mr. Crossman), before he was appointed 1086 Leader of the House, was known to us all as a man who was interested in Parliamentary reform. He was known to be interested in the procedures of the House and in the facilities afforded to hon. Members. As such, his appointment as Leader of the House and Chairman of the Services Committee was most appropriate.
I have great personal affection for the new Leader of the House, but his qualifications for being Chairman of the Services Committee are not known to me. He is not known to me to have campaigned for the rights of ordinary Members, and I submit that there are several matters affecting the business of the House, and the manner in which we run the House of Commons, which ought to be of concern to anyone who is seeking appointment by the House as Chairman of the Select Committee on Services.
Many members of the public are shocked when they learn of the lack of facilities to carry out our business—

§ Mr. Speaker
Some other occasion must be found for that speech. This is a narrow debate.

§ Mr. Steel
I do not know whether the right hon. Gentleman the Leader of the House will have a chance to reply to this debate.

§ Mr. Speaker
The right hon. Gentleman will not be able to reply to it.

§ Mr. Steel
In that case, I am wasting my sweetness on the desert air, because my object in speaking was to bring the right hon. Gentleman to the Dispatch Box to show how enthusiastic he was to reform our facilities and to improve them. I hope that he will have these feelings when he takes up his new appointment.